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Common error messages

robertinant edited this page Jul 21, 2012 · 14 revisions

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There are some error messages that are not so obvious what they mean. This is a living collection of messages and some possible meanings.

1) Unable to find device

 "usbutil: unable to find a device matching 0451:f432"
  • You have selected the wrong serial port.
  • Your launchpad is not connected to the USB.
  • You are using a usb power cord, not a data cord.
  • There is bug Mac OS X in the driver that caused the Launchpad to be disconnected. Unplug/plug the LaunchPad to make Mac OS X recognize it again. (if you have programmed the Launchpad with code that is writing out serial data, hold the reset button on the launchpad for a few seconds when you connect the usb...then your mac should be able to upload again)
  • Note Energia will recognize your launchpad once it is connected to the usb. 2 extra lines will appear in the tools->Serial Port menu

2) Undefined reference to setup()

 core.a(main.cpp.o): In function `main':**
 /Applications/Energia.app/Contents/Resources/Java/hardware/msp430/cores/msp430/main.cpp:7: 
 undefined reference to `setup'**
 collect2: ld returned 1 exit status**
  • You don't have a setup function defined, or have a typo in the name. See BareMinimum example for more information.

3) Undefined reference to loop()

 core.a(main.cpp.o): In function `main':
 /Applications/Energia.app/Contents/Resources/Java/hardware/msp430/cores/msp430/main.cpp:10: 
 undefined reference to `loop'
 collect2: ld returned 1 exit status
  • You don't have a loop function defined, or have a typo in the name. See BareMinimum example for more information.

4) Can't claim interface

 rf2500: can't claim interface: Permission denied
 rf2500: failed to open RF2500 device
 rf2500: can't receive data: Result too large
 fet: open failed
 Trying again...
 rf2500: can't send data: Device not configured
 fet: open failed
  • This is a mac specific solution
The msp CDC/ACM driver install tells us the following... "Please Remove any Code-less Kext that Blocks the Ports. E.g. ez430rf2500.kext. it will block any Kext from attaching to the Device."

You get this error message is if you did not remove the ez430rf2500.kext driver or did not read it during the install.

To fix is simple: Unplug your LaunchPad, Open a terminal and type the following command:

 sudo rm /System/Library/Extensions/ez430rf2500.kext

If you do not yet have the driver installed then get it from the link in the Getting Started guide. Plug in your LaunchPad and all should be OK.

5) Could not write device memory

fet: FET returned error code 7 (Could not write device memory)
fet: failed to write to 0xc000
ihex: error on line 44
You get this error message on the mac if you attempt to download to the wrong device. In this case the board selected was MSP430G2553 and the device on the board was an MSP430G2231. You need to select the correct board in the Tools->Board menu in Energia or insert the device on the LaunchPad that matches your selection.

6) section `.bss' will not fit in region `ram'

if you see an error message similar to the one below then this means that the Sketch + Libraries is asking for more RAM than is available on the msp430 selected. Reduce the number of libraries used in your Sketch and/or limit the amount of variables in your Sketch. Or select a different msp430 with more RAM.

..../hardware/tools/msp430/bin/../lib/gcc/msp430/4.6.3/../../../../msp430/bin/ld: master_reader.cpp.elf section `.bss' will not fit in region `ram'
..../hardware/tools/msp430/bin/../lib/gcc/msp430/4.6.3/../../../../msp430/bin/ld: region `ram' overflowed by 34 bytes
collect2: ld returned 1 exit status